Electrify America Mach-E Charging Issues

[Ford Motor Company]

Hello there, Ford Family!
We want to make your Mustang Mach-E experience as simple and easy as possible. Here are some tips and tricks on how to set up and use complimentary charging network access. You can access information but visiting the following link: https://www.ford.com/content/dam/br...mache/MACHE_PublicCharging_Job_Aid_4_9_21.pdf.

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[Adonnelly72]

Question (and maybe there is a thread for this already), I know Electrify America got Mach-E's to test long before they were being sold to us. I really thought they would be ready. It seems every road trip Mach-E report/video has issues with the EA DC Fast Chargers charging stations. Is it the software in the Mach-E or is it the EA stations? Seems Ford should have field tested these cars more.

In New York, private companies and EvolveNY (https://nypa.gov/innovation/initiatives/evolve-ny) are starting to bring several DCFC stations online with more planned over the next two years. I am counting on them to work with the Mach-E.

Having said all that. I know I will be able solve any issues I run into. I am worried about people who won't be able to and get so frustrated they give up and go back to ICE vehicles.

 

[Adonnelly72]

Major issues charging, period. Used EA, Charge point and now at a Blink station! Took total of 9 hours yesterday to add about 80 miles! Is it just my Mach E?

 

[RockwallRick]

I have only used EA so far, but worked ok using a credit card. Still have not been able to get Plug and Charge activated.

 

[agoldman]

Seems to me that there is no consistency from one charger to the next, let alone different brand chargers. Lots of reported problems. It is very concerning for anyone setting off on a trip, or without home charging access. The infrastructure needs a quality control fix asap.

 

[stmache]

Thank you!

For those having issues, please, review this document to verify you have your FordPass Account setup correctly. If you have, you will see the 250/500 Kwh in the app depending on if Ford sent you the 500 Kwh email.

Had some brand new EA stations go live this week near me and I will be testing it out once I run down my battery a bit.

Hello there, Ford Family!
We want to make your Mustang Mach-E experience as simple and easy as possible. Here are some tips and tricks on how to set up and use complimentary charging network access. You can access information but visiting the following link: https://www.ford.com/content/dam/br...mache/MACHE_PublicCharging_Job_Aid_4_9_21.pdf.

 

[Maquis]

I've used several EA chargers without issue. Caveat: I don't use plug & charge, I always initiate the session in FordPass.

The one time I had an issue was over the 4th of July weekend. I tried to start a session from FordPass before I realized EA was offering complimentary charging that weekend. FordPass simply stated "Error initiating charge session" (or something similar). I called EA and she told me just to plug in....that worked. Apparently the EA setup for complimentary charging could not interact properly with the FordPass request.

 

[benk016]

Major issues charging, period. Used EA, Charge point and now at a Blink station! Took total of 9 hours yesterday to add about 80 miles! Is it just my Mach E?

I had an issue a few weeks ago where every charging station I stopped at, wouldn't let me charge over 34kw. It was the car reporting to the charging station that was its max.

EA even charged the 1-50kw rate of $0.16/min.

The next trip I took, I got perfect charging results though.

It feels like there is some condition that can limit charging drastically. I just don't know if its temperature, or something else. I have better OBD setup now so hopefully next time it happens I can narrow it down.

 

[TRP]

I've used DCFC 5 times total, all with an EA charger. The first 3 I paid with CC because my Ford credit hadn't showed up yet, #4 was the free EA weekend to show the wife how to DCFC, #5 used the Ford credit and plug and charge flawlessly.

Maybe I'm an outlier but so far I can't complain about this feature

 

[AZBill]

Hello there, Ford Family!
We want to make your Mustang Mach-E experience as simple and easy as possible. Here are some tips and tricks on how to set up and use complimentary charging network access. You can access information but visiting the following link: https://www.ford.com/content/dam/br...mache/MACHE_PublicCharging_Job_Aid_4_9_21.pdf.

Thank you @Ford Motor Company for this job aid. Could you please include some screen shots of what to expect in the car after sending a trip to the car? I have saved some trips in my Ford Pass app and sent them to the car, but did not insert a date or time of departure in the future. The next time I got in the car I could not find any of those saved trips. Is the intent that I have to send just one trip to the car right before departure? Or is there some hidden way to find those saved trips in the car on the Navigation screen?

 

[Scrannel]

FWIW... You likely know this, but at some Tesla chargers, when it's extremely hot outside, that heat affects the charging connector such that some owners (Out of Spec Motoring for one) will place a damp cloth over the connector to get "normal" charging.

 

[AZBill]

FWIW... You likely know this, but at some Tesla chargers, when it's extremely hot outside, that heat affects the charging connector such that some owners (Out of Spec Motoring for one) will place a damp cloth over the connector to get "normal" charging.

EA chargers have liquid cooling in the cables and connectors already.

 

[Scrannel]

EA chargers have liquid cooling in the cables and connectors already.

So have the Tesla. Still... the idea was with the handles sitting around in extreme heat, the liquid cooling sometimes was pre-cooked. You don't have to try it.

https://www.greencarreports.com/new...erica-fast-chargers-over-holiday-week-updated

also of interest

https://insideevs.com/news/389891/exclusive-interview-electrify-america-problems-solutions/

 

[dbsb3233]

Something is dramatically wrong there. 5 kW should be more like 120-160 kW at that point in the charge curve. In fact it should never get down to 5 kW on DCFC. Above 80% SOC it drops to the 10-12 kW range in the MME (by design), but you should never see it go as low as 5 kW on a DCFC charger. Especially below 80% SOC.

Sucks even more that it was in a per-minute state instead of the usual per-kWh.

Since you experienced similar extreme slowness at a totally unrelated Blink charger too, I'd suspect something is wrong with the car and it needs service. If you take it to another DCFC just to do a quick 3rd test, you'd know within minutes. If it stays stuck around 5 kW, it clearly needs service.

 

[dbsb3233]

I had an issue a few weeks ago where every charging station I stopped at, wouldn't let me charge over 34kw. It was the car reporting to the charging station that was its max.

EA even charged the 1-50kw rate of $0.16/min.

The next trip I took, I got perfect charging results though.

It feels like there is some condition that can limit charging drastically. I just don't know if its temperature, or something else. I have better OBD setup now so hopefully next time it happens I can narrow it down.

Usually when EA is having a problem that limits the charging power to the MME (we often suspect the cable cooling might be having a problem, thus the charger kicks down the power), we see the MME charging around 41-43 kW. There's been many reports of that. I've experienced it twice myself.

Sounds like 50 kW may be the failsafe level when EA detects an issue with the charger(s). The way Kyle described it, it's really an amperage limit (125A @ 400v). But since the MME battery packs are really around 350v instead, 350v x 125A = ~43 kW. Thus it peaks around 43 on a 50 kW charger.

However 34 kW in your example sounds like something potentially different (maybe the car limiting it?).

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